Party Conferences

During October the Public Affairs team attended all three annual Party Political Conferences. Welfare reform was very much on the agenda at the three conferences and in particular at the Conservative Conference where it served as the main part of the Conservative manifesto for winning the next election.

‘Getting Britain Working’ focused on how the Conservatives would shake up welfare reform should they be elected. Overall, Shaw Trust was disappointed by the tone of much of the content of the Conservative announcement. Whilst there was much to welcome in terms of policy content, we felt strongly that an opportunity to talk about fairness was missed. Much of the focus of the announcement was on targeting people on Incapacity Benefit. We know that most people on Incapacity Benefit want to work and singling them out or suggesting that they are not willing to work is unfair and misleading and further stigmatises a vulnerable group

'Getting Britain Working'

We did get the chance to speak to Mark Harper MP, Shadow Minister for Disabled People, about these plans at our fringe event which was titled ‘How will the Conservatives get the UK working again?’ Alongside Stuart Knowles, Mark Harper took questions from the floor, many of which focused on the third sector’s role in welfare reform under a Conservative government. The Public Affairs team are currently in the process of arranging a meeting with the Shadow Minister to discuss these plans further. In addition to the fringe event we also hosted a reception which was very well attended. Rt Hon Theresa May MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions spoke at this reception along with Stuart Knowles.

The Liberal Democrats also talked about welfare reform and during our fringe event ‘How will the Liberal Democrats get the UK working again?’ speakers which included Catherine A’Bear and Paul Rowen MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions took questions from delegates on this subject.

Welfare Reform

Welfare reform has been a major concern for the third term of the present Labour Government. Although there was a period of slow-down following the publication of the Freud Report, since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, welfare reform has once again become one of the key legislative themes, and this has been heightened as a result of the current economic recession.

Although the current Welfare Reform Bill will have completed its passage through Parliament, a number of factors and events during 2009 are likely to keep welfare reform high on the political agenda, including the commencement of Flexible New Deal, the first year results from Pathways to Work, the roll-out of the new Work Choice programme (to replace Workstep) and the ongoing world economic crisis and related rise in unemployment.

This was very much on the political agenda at the Labour Party conference in Brighton. Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions spoke of the need to get people off benefits and back into work and acknowledged the fact that during times of recession this is much harder.

During our fringe event ‘How will Labour get the UK working again’, which was chaired by David Brindle from the Guardian, our speakers who included: Jonathan Shaw MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions; Stuart Knowles and Will Hutton from the Work Foundation, we did get the opportunity to explore much of what the Secretary of State had said.

We will be meeting with Jonathan Shaw shortly to explore how Shaw Trust can help support Labours plans going forward.

 Back to Recent Events